In a sneak peak of what’s to come this summer, Lichfield Festival has revealed a handful of the superb artists and musicians who are lined up to play in the city, offering a flavour of the top-notch events to look forward to.
Lichfield Festival is one of the most eclectic multi-arts festivals in the UK, known for its colourful mix of music, dance, theatre, literary, community and family events.
The Festival announces Cathedral headliners including multi-award-winning performing artist, composer and producer Nitin Sawhney CBE, and the ‘first lady of folk’, singer-songwriter Kate Rusby.
Nitin Sawhney is the recipient of the Ivor Novello 2017 Lifetime Achievement award along with a multitude of international awards and is one of the most distinctive and versatile musical voices around today – a world-class producer, songwriter, touring artist, BBC Radio and club DJ, multi-instrumentalist, theatrical, dance, videogame and orchestral composer, as well as a cultural/political commentator. His composing credits include Mowgli for Netflix and BBC’s epic Human Planet series, and his last album, ‘Immigrants’ for Sony Masterworks, was released to great acclaim in 2021.
Sawhney is currently working on a new album for release later this year along with TV and film projects. Kate Rusby announced herself to the music press in 1999 with a Mercury Music Prize and has recently been celebrating 30 years as a touring musician and headlining everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall to Cambridge Folk Festival.
Returning for her first Lichfield performance since 2016, the Festival audience is sure to be thoroughly entertained by much-loved classics from her back catalogue, together with fresh, new versions reimagined for her celebratory album ’30 : Happy Returns’.
Also in Lichfield Cathedral, actress, singer and Broadway star Melissa Errico sings Legrand and Sondheim, and Festival Patron Julian Lloyd Webber hosts and curates a concert performed by his international cellist wife Jiaxin Lloyd Webber in an atmospheric candlelit evening to close this year’s event. Three new Lichfield Festival Associate Artists for 2023-2025 are also announced: musical explorers the Brodsky Quartet who have just marked their 50th anniversary; pianist James Pearson, Artistic Director of London’s famous Ronnie Scott’s; and violinist and vocalist Lizzie Ball.
All will make appearances this summer. They join current Associate Artists BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Baroque violinist Rachel Podger and Grimethorpe Colliery Band who all give Cathedral concerts, and pianist Danny Driver and cabaret artist and writer, Jessica Walker, who perform at multiple venues across the City.
Lichfield Festival is also delighted to be continuing its partnership with McArthurGlen designer outlet West Midlands. It follows a highly successful relationship in 2022 which included taking the Festival to the designer outlet in Cannock for a pop-up Day of Dance, and a Lichfield Literature Festival pop-up which will take place at McArthurGlen’s Community Corner on 18-20 March this year.
David Jackson, Centre Manager, McArthurGlen said, “We are proud to continue to support Lichfield Festival and those involved with its important work. The Festival is widely known and loved across the region as somewhere people can come together and celebrate the thriving arts and culture in the local area and beyond.
“McArthurGlen West Midlands are delighted to play a part in enabling this, and will support growth and development of the Festival in future.” Full details of Lichfield Festival will be announced in late March.
